In the interest of fairness I offer these articles:
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/s...al-harassment/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...e/70196879007/
A reality within the Republican party is how the lack of acceptance for certain life choices are not well received when made public. I cannot fault someone for wanting to closet their sexuality and given the nature of this site I would argue many of us here do exactly that on a pretty regular basis. That said you won't find me marching in support of stiffer (pun intended) penalties for those engaged in this 'hobby' willingly either. I may be a pervert but there is no reason to be a hypocrite about it.
We can be conservative without subscribing to the talking points of a political party. I learned to clean, load, and shoot a pistol before my 10th birthday. The 2nd amendment is one I embrace every day. It feels wrong when I am somewhere that I cannot legally carry if I want to but I understand the misdeeds of others often affect the rest of us. For those who didn't stop reading at the 2nd there are a number of vital concepts outlined further down the list.
The 9th amendment is one I try to think of often:
“The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.”
It speaks to the idea that government should not have so much power that it can be used against people who have unpopular opinions or live their life in a way that others may not like, so long as it does not actually impact those opposed.
The 14th speaks of liberty. Liberty can be a physical movement and it also includes philosophy and life choices. Attempting to use the government to restrict our personal libery is in fact Un-Constitutional.
I am mindful of the fact that these did not apply to everyone when the amendments were ratified. It has only been the last 100 years or so that women were allowed to vote and really more like 50 or so years when any group not composed of white males were actually FREE to vote as they choose.
We can point fingers at one party or another and try to lay blame but the culprit is prejudice. There is nothing wrong with feeling that someone else's choices are not for you and the 1st amendment gives us a protected avenue to express our beliefs. When a party makes it policy to try and squash other's rights of expression and deprive them of personal libery it becomes something else entirely.